...

POWER OF CHOICE

—

LESSON 211

My children, remember there is one indisputable fact, the fact

that, even at the longest, there is, comparatively speaking, but a short

time left for you to remain in physical incarnation at this particular

stage of your life journey, and consider whether you desire to be

active or passive in the intermediate . astral . state between the

physical and devachanic states of consciousness, that is, do you desire

to be conscious of personal existence and experience, or do you desire

to lose the sense of personality for a long time when you pass into that

intermediate state ? Bear in mind, it must be one or the other ; there is

no third alternative. It is only the extremely wicked who lose and the

very advanced souls who renounce the devachanic interlude, so it is

well to acknowledge and accept the fact in considering the fate of the

human race, in that respect, and turn your attention temporarily to

consideration of the state preceding the devachanic.

It is not a commonly accepted fact that a normal human being

may choose whether he will remain wide awake, or will passively

accept a half comatose state of existence during that intermediate

period, at the close of which occurs what is sometimes termed "the

second death." If wide awake, the personal mind is more conscious of

the purgation which is taking place than it would otherwise be ; that is,

more conscious of the experiences it is passing through, experiences

both positive and negative-the karmic results of previous action.

When I say man may choose, of course, I use the word choose in

a relative sense, for his power of choice depends largely upon the

condition of the vehicle of his astral consciousness ; and the condition

of that astral vehicle depends upon the degree to which he has

developed that vehicle, by means of the exercise of Desire and Will

while still functioning on the physical plane. If he is an accepted

disciple of the White Lodge such exercise will be given under fixed

rules for controlling these two forms of cosmic energy. Remember, his

action in that respect will not influence his later devachanic

experience, unless [TT 521] he has reached a point where the

individual need for that period of rest no longer exists, as is the case

with the Masters of Wisdom, who are conscious on all planes, at will.

The occult rules for consciously changing the outlines of any

living form are possible of so much misuse they are only given by

Master to pupil, direct ; there are no reliable printed rules for that

purpose. It is a serious matter for one to deliberately decide

consciously to change the configuration of any organ of that astral

body, for if he has much unpaid bad karma he may create conditions

which would increase the action of karmic retribution beyond his

power of patient endurance, as a highly sensitive body may feel pain

more keenly than would a gross body on the physical plane.

It is possible for a strong minded man to do much in the way of

changing his astral body, as I have mentioned, without knowing

anything about the before-mentioned rules, or even being aware that

he is building that body at all ; but if he consciously undertakes to

make such changes while totally ignorant of those rules he is likely to

make some serious mistakes, and the result would be a badly

proportioned, unnatural or deformed organ or body, for he would not

know how or where to fix his thought force. Under such

circumstances, he would do better to leave the changing of that form

to nature atone, for it would be possible for him to tear down by

sudden gusts of anger, hate or jealousy more in a moment of time than

he could rebuild in a year. This also is even true of the normally

moral, well-intentioned man ; but if he is building by rule he may

know better how to correct fault in the building.

One of the peculiar idiosyncrasies of the human racial mind is the

rapidity with which it eliminates certain facts and experiences it would

seem would have been indelibly imprinted within it ; for instance, the

methods and means by which structural changes in form, both astral

and physical, take place and the causes for such changes. Every race,

as a whole, has been repeatedly taught the necessity for morality, and

for spiritual rebirth if the soul is to have an independent existence after

death of the body. They may not have accepted these world . old

teachings, but at least they have heard of them in some degree. They

have something in the line of a concept of a Supreme Being and of a

Heaven and a Hell, but the basic reason for being righteous, "from a

mathematical or geometrical point of view", receives little or no

consideration.

The knowledge of the fact that the commission of an act, or the

dwelling upon a definite thought which is contrary to divine law, may

produce structural changes in form (both astral and physical) has been

[TT 522] lost at some period of the individual life fine, and this

notwithstanding the fact that the seat of memory is fixed in the soul. It

would seem that the intuition or the racial instinct of a people, if

nothing more definite, would have carried over into a new incarnation

such a super important memory, but this occurs only in exceptional

cases. The loss of a limb or the infliction of some other physical injury

in one life does in fact leave an impress on the soul memory in all

succeeding lives, and this becomes evident in an instinctive fear of the

thing or creature by which such injury was inflicted ; yet the means by

which Karma collects its moral and spiritual debts, in so many

instances, remains a mystery. A man may have been born deaf or

blind, and science may find the cause for it in some structural fault in,

eye or ear, or some hereditary or pre-natal influence. Orthodoxy terms

it the "Will of God", and it seldom if ever occurs to that man that the

primal cause of his blindness or deafness was misuse or abuse of the

properties of Thought, Sound or Light. The mode of motion or the

vibrations of the waves of light or sound which had been evoked by

Thought in that misuse or abuse reached the centers of sound or

vision, in process of formation in the unborn child.

The interaction of all energies, substances and matter on all planes

of life is little understood as yet.

These are crude illustrations but they may give some ides of the

method and the means by which prenatal variations of form are

accomplished, and the causes back of such structural changes, both

good and bad, from a material point of view. One may listen to the

tale against, and subscribe to the revengeful punishment of another

man, without making an effort to learn the truth of the charge against

the man or to help the sufferer, thus passively becoming an accessory

to his suffering, but Divine Law takes account of that sin of omission.

The waves of sound or vision, or both, have been evoked and diverted

from their natural or divine course ; and sometime, somewhere, in

some newly incarnating life, a center of hearing or sight in the then

forming Linga Sharira . astral form . will catch those diverted waves,

and when ear or eye is fully formed there will be some fault, some

malformation which will not permit the great normal, natural waves of

sound or light to plat' upon the astral ear or eye centers in process of

forming.

Possibly this illustration will give some ides of the interaction of

substance on different planes, although it is to illustrate the action of

the higher spiritual forces in and through gross matter.

...

UNDEVELOPED OR UNUSED CENTERS OF THE BRAIN

—

LESSON 212

It is no uncommon circumstance to hear an under-developed

student of life complain of having reached the limit of mental effort.

The cause does not always occur to the sufferer or to the confidant of

his woes even when the latter is a physician or surgeon, for the reason

that the cause lies just beyond the last point his scalpel can reach,

although still in the domain of physical matter. The remedy is in his

own bands so long as he bas the power of direction, for in order to

effect a cure the patient must recognize the cause and direct the mental

energy which bas all but ceased flowing through certain brain centers

which are not classified in any accepted physiological work.

There are seven of these minor centers in the brain which serve

the larger sense centers, the master chakras, or centers which direct

the functioning of the various organs of the body somewhat as may

the keys of an electric switchboard which turn off and on the current

of electricity that travels by wire or wave.

As the average man or woman is ignorant of the existence and the

functions of the minor centers no specific effort is made to keep them

in working order, and eventually they deteriorate as does every unused

center or organ of the physical body, except in so far as nature may

direct their functioning indiscriminately. The weakening of the

surrounding tissue of these centers through disuse or misuse is what

causes the gradual weakening of the mental powers in old age.

Occasionally you see an elderly man or woman whose interest in the

affairs of life is as keen at eighty years of age as at thirty. If you are

able to acquaint yourself with the details of the events of such a life

you will probably learn that a super-normal curiosity about

phenomena of every kind was the most notable characteristic of the

person, a curiosity which impelled the most active interest in

everything connected with the object of curiosity. When a subject of

interest is introduced in the hearing of such an one the vital point of

the subject is seized upon at once, and no pains are spared to hunt that

point to its last hiding place. If, for instance, the subject is the motive

power of aeronautics, every possible clue leading up to the discovery

and the nature and use of that power will be followed to its end. In a

person of this character the particular brain centers of the class I have

mentioned function the motive power of invention and execution, and

the interest is increased by every point established until there is a

strong current of force set [TT 524] up between the Tatwic centers

and the chakras. This increase in vibration brings an increase of blond

to the corresponding plexuses, consequently better nourishment.

As an illustration, take a person engaged in any line of mental or

physical activity, one whose whole mind for many hours in the day is

concentrated on that one line of endeavor, and who has little or no

interest in life outside of that fine. The brain centers most active in

promoting that line become overdeveloped. The connecting lines

between that one center and other centers associated with other lines

of life interest are gradually either wholly or partially atrophied and

life holds no real interest for that person outside that one line as

advancing age creeps upon him and his power of concentration on the

one line decreases. If interest seems to be dying out in the normal

affairs of life, and one would avoid such a fate as is lest pictured, he

has no alternative but to make a practice of deliberately seizing upon

some point of every subject which would naturally interest him if he

were in a normal condition, and force his interest to the point nature

intended. By persistently following this rule he will gradually awaken

new life in these connecting lines by a purely natural process.

These super-sensitive centers, "tatwic centers" as they are termed

by the orientalists . the undeveloped or unused centers referred to by

me, are the first centers to develop in the head of the foetus. In and

through these centers come and go the impulses from the universal

tatwas . the seven principles of life.

The seven master chakras of the brain control the senses of man

and are dependent upon the flow of the seven life currents through the

tatwic centers. When an impulse from a cosmic tatwic force impinges

upon a corresponding tatwic center in the human brain, that center is

set in rapid vibration and the energy aroused is then communicated to

the corresponding sense chakra, thence to the corresponding plexus

and to the organ of sense by means of the motor and sensory nerves

which control the action of the nerves and muscles. When man fails to

recognize and makes no use of the cosmic tatwic forces as they

impinge upon the tatwic centers of the brain, those centers lose

elasticity and power of response and finally atrophy or become in

some instances completely paralyzed. In such an instance the organ or

part of the body which is under the control of the corresponding sense

chakra, will gradually begin to be affected. If it is the chakra which

controls hearing the individual will begin to lose his power of hearing.

The principle of Buddhi-Manas has been partially inhibited from

action in that instance.

By studying the principles and their relation to the various brain

centers you will find all these correspondences. [TT 525]

It is the vital interest . the curiosity in relation to any thing or

subject which a life impulse has awakened in any tatwic center which

increases the activity of the chakra in which has been ' aroused an

increase of vibration by the tatwic force. This interest or curiosity will

bring a steady flow of the tatwic force to the corresponding chakra

until that interest or curiosity is satisfied. If constant effort is made to

so satisfy interest in phenomena, and an increase of blond and

therefore of life force flows steadily to the portion of the brain

occupied by the tatwic center and the chakra in question, the mental

and physical development will be rapid.

The normally intelligent man is interested in and curious about

every unfamiliar objective or thought condition which presents itself

and strives to learn the causes and consequences of the same. The

purely self indulgent, indolent man gradually loses interest in all that

does not add to the gratification of the organs of sense. He has little, if

any, curiosity about Natures great secrets, therefore neglects

development of these tatwic centers which control the master chakras,

which in turn make possible the higher development of brain and

body ; consequently he ages more quickly than the first mentioned

man.

...

AUTOMATIC REVELATIONS

—

LESSON 213

Unless a student of occultism is thoroughly conversant with the

philosophy of the Wisdom Religion, notably that portion of it which

declares the seven-fold division of Matter, Force and Consciousness,

he may be quite easily deceived by some of the literature now being

disseminated by means of newspapers and magazines, and by some of

the teachings put forth by certain organizations on the subject of

automatic revelations, which, it is claimed, have been given by the

disembodied souls of the newly dead.

The ignorance of many of the mediums of communication

between the physical and astral planes concerning the constitution of

matter and the nature of life on the interior planes is evident in every

line of some of these communications and therefore the danger of

accepting them verbatim is evident. Similar mistakes to led to the

formation of some modern spiritualistic organizations are being made

by many psychics and mediums of the present time.

If authentic, such communications originate within the sixth

plane, counting from above, a sub-plane of the full astral plane . a

plane [TT 526] which the soul contacts immediately upon leaving the

body. It is a plane of reflection and of incessant change ; a plane of

purgation, and the plane within which the "second death" . release

from the limitations of gross matter eventually occurs. Whereas, in

some of the automatic revelations put forth, completion of the life .

line of the individual soul is clearly indicated. But very little that is

seen on that sub-plane has any permanent existence.

The fact of an occasional communication from a Master to some

disciple who has not yet developed the higher centers of sight and

hearing, but whose astral senses are sufficiently developed to allow

him to become a medium of communication between certain

earthbound souls and still living personalities on the physical planes,

does not militate against the truth of my statements.

The directions and instructions given by a Master to a more

highly developed disciple, or Agent, of the White Lodge, are given by

the use of Kriyashakti Power, a power which the Master has won

during his many lives, and is not subject to interference by elementary

forces of a lower plane.

Communications given by the average medium in seances are

generally designed to help some inquirer, regardless of the worthiness

or unworthiness of the latter to receive such help or comfort from a

spiritual source, and even if the medium is reliable, and the psychic

centers have been partially developed, the scenes witnessed are

generally reflections of objective forms on the physical plane, or of

the thought forms of strong desires as they are pictured in the

mentality of the medium or the questioner. The pictures would appear

to indicate perfect satisfaction of each desire and naturally would

deceive the personality as to their spiritual value.

I do not intend to enter minutely into the subject of miscalled

spiritualistic phenomena at this time ; my main purpose is to call the

attention of advanced students of occultism to the literature based on

automatic revelations that is flooding the world at this time, and to

advise such students to put all articles on that subject before the

judgment seat of their own souls and strive to learn how nearly they

conform to the teachings of the Wisdom Religion, and especially to

those teachings which take up the seven-fold division of Matter, Force

and Consciousness and the relation of the incarnating Ego to those

states or planes of life. By doing so, they should soon be able to

separate the chaff from the wheat. By testing such communications as

I have referred to by the light of the Temple Teachings atone, they

will not go wrong, for they are in perfect harmony with the teachings

of the Wisdom Religion.

Accept tentatively that which seems reliable from everything that

comes your way, but above everything learn to true and the false.

Among the strongest desires expressed by a human being is a

desire for assurance of the continuity of life after death, and for

communication with friends who have crossed the border between life

and death, so it is not surprising that people will go to almost any

length to obtain satisfactory assurance of the same, especially if they

do not know that they can very materially retard the evolution of the

soul they desire to contact, by drawing it back toward the physical

plane while it is breaking the connection between the astral and

physical planes.

Bear in mind that your efforts should be directed to the

development of your own higher centers of consciousness, so that it

will be possible for you to contact those friends on higher planes

without an intermediary, when they also have broken the attraction of

the astral and physical planes.

...

THE LORDS OF KARMA

—

LESSON 214

In one sense the Lords of Karma are the administrators of Divine

Justice . the Supreme power of the Universe, the Lord of the Absolute

. the creator of motion, therefore the creator of cyclic action upon

which all law is dependent.

The Lords of Karma . high spiritual entities . guide and direct the

action of every form of force and energy set free by gods, angels or

man. The Higher Self of man is his own judge and executioner, but

the Higher Self can only apply the effects of a given cause to the

personal self after the Lords of Karma have reversed the stream of

energy set free by that personal self as a result of any act that is

contrary to law, for Divine law cannot be broken with impunity.

Disobedience to a Divine law may obstruct the action of that law

temporarily, but cannot do so permanently. Cyclic action will

ultimately bring about conditions comparable to those which existed

at the time the law was broken. The Karmic results of the

disobedience may have been worked out in the meantime, leaving as it

were, opportunity for final adjustment end a clear field at the close of

the cycle.

Man is so bound by familiar terras of expression, he is greatly

handicapped in his efforts to understand super-physical phenomena

[TT 528] when they are presented in unfamiliar terms and there are

language by means of which certain forms of energy may be

designated, or their action on the physical plane described ; for

instance, the forms or degrees of energy which are generated by

different sounds and motions and which so far as may be observed by

the senses have no exterior effects. Every spoken word or sound, as

well as every act of man tends to free a definite form of energy which

must take a clearly defined course according to the guidance of the

Lords of Karma.

If you throw a stone into a pool of water, thus setting the water in

motion, you have released some form or degree of energy ; the waves

of water will moue outward until they reach the verge of the pool,

where they will receive the impetus to return to their starting point.

But action will not cease with that one round, the waves will complete

many rounds before the initial force is exhausted, and the number of

rounds will depend largely upon the size and weight of the stone cast

into the water. So it is the size and weight of the stone, the original

cause or motive of the act, which is cast into the Ocean of universal

Life that determines how many times the waves . the effects of that

cause . will return to the one responsible for the act, or how many

incarnations will be affected as a result of that act.

There are three grand divisions of the Lords of Karma, and very

many times three minor divisions. As there is continuous

interpenetration and correlation between different grades of force and

substance, there is correspondingly continuous interchange,

synchronous vibration, between all degrees and orders of the Lords of

Karma and with the higher selves of all humanity ; consequently there

is no possibility of a miscarriage of Divine Justice as a finality. For

instance, a man may commit a murder as a result of a carefully

considered plot and from an utterly selfish motive, thus throwing a

very weighty stone . a great evil, into his individual pool of life and

setting free a powerful stream of energy. Instead of allowing that

stream of energy, weighted with evil as a result of the action of will

and motive, to run its course and injuriously affect countless others,

the Karmic Lords may turn that stream of energy back on its course to

the Auric sphere of the one who sent it forth. The energy so returned

is utilized by the Higher Self in working out the effects of that original

cause upon the lower or personal self, and as the cause was so

powerful for evil in itself, it may take the personal ego many

incarnations to work out all the effects of that one cause ; i. e., the

waves of the individual pool would return again and again to the point

. the cause . where that heavily weighted stone was cast into the pool.

It is a mistake to believe that the one who commits murder of the

physical plane in one life must be killed in another life by his victim in

order to satisfy the Karmic law. Such another act of disobedience to

Divine Law could not satisfy Divine Justice. Divine Law always acts

for the ultimate benefit of humanity, even when its decrees bring

sorrow and loss upon the units of a race or a nation. Evil can never be

overcome by evil on any plane of existence. The Higher Self has other

ways of utilizing the return wave . the stream of energy turned back

by the Karmic Lords, in such an instance as I have mentioned. In the

eyes of the average man the punishment meted out to the murderer by

the Higher Self might not seem commensurate to the crime, but if he

were able to see far enough the future to behold the final result of the

decrees of Karmic law upon the incarnating Ego of the murderer, he

would be satisfied with the administration of Divine Justice.

I have taken one of the worst of crimes to illustrate my point ; but

the breaking of any Divine law will bring results in perfect accord

with Divine Justice ; and all such universal laws are founded on

universal principles. Those principles are the very foundation stones

of the universe, and are therefore irrevocable and unalterable. So far

as man . made laws are identical with Divine Laws, they are just ; but

when they vary in the least they are mutable and cannot always stand

the test of life.

...

KARMIC ADJUSTMENT

—

From the Master K. H.

—

LESSON 215

If it were not for the soul tragedies in process of culmination

which they are compelled to witness, the Initiates of the White Lodge

might more tranquilly watch the action of inexorable Law than are

able to do at present, as one after another of the self-deceived victims

of their own ambition, or the ambitions of others, falls the sloughs of

the lower astral plane in the belief that they are contacting the Masters

of Wisdom or the angelic hosts of high heaven. But as it is, the

knowledge possessed by the Masters of the inevitable tragedies which

will follow, even in the case of some of their own solemnly pledged

disciples who have been led astray, as well as others who have never

had like advantages, is a source of deep sorrow and regret to them.

[TT 530]

Those students who believe that the Masters of Wisdom are no

longer subject to sorrow and pain, know but little of the offices and

effects of those great nature forces. It is not that the Masters are

unable to control the action of the raid forces, but that they will not

separate themselves from the race they are serving, and must often

stand helplessly by when their own Neophytes are suffering, for the

reason that the Karma of the Master and that of the Neophyte for

whom he has assumed the responsibility of training, become identified

to whatever degree knowledge has been imparted which would enable

the Neophyte to misuse the power he has gained, if he subsequently

falls under the dominion of the Brothers of the Shadow. This has been

the case with those Neophytes referred to in the opening paragraphs of

this communication.

The deeply regretted mistake of our much prized representative,

Helena Blavatsky, in accepting as students, and in imparting some of

the teachings of the Secret Science to those chelas who were utterly

unprepared for their receipt, has been repeated by other advanced

disciples of the Masters in the present era, and the consequence is that,

never since the sinking of Atlantis as a result of the misuse of Spiritual

power have there been so many units of a human race fallen so deeply

and irretrievably under the glamour of Black or of Ceremonial Magic,

as has been the case in the present era. This is evident to the seeing

eye in the lowering of the tone of morality of the race as a whole, the

many sexual perverts under observation at present, the contempt of

moral and national laws, and the willful breaking of the mort sacred

vows of discipleship by solemnly pledged Neophytes.

When the curse of personal ambition seizes a soul, the mind

becomes blind to honor and principle. It seizes upon every pretext to

advance personal interests ; friends and relatives are shelved without

compunction, until at length there comes a day when the tragedy of

utter desolation falls upon that soul. The work of the Brothers of the

Shadow is thus completed for one, if not more, incarnations and the

long hard path must be retrodden if the soul is to gain emancipation.

It seems all but impossible to convince an over-ambitious student

that the simple, natural laws of life cannot be disobeyed with

impunity. He does not sufficiently realize that it is by means of the

physical, mental and psychic strength and virility gained as a result of

implicit obedience to those laws, that it becomes possible for a

Neophyte to pars the necessary tests of endurance, strength and

concentration ; tests which even an Initiate must have passed

successfully to enable him to take the step which opens to him the

Path of final Initiation. If he has failed to pars those tests, the hurt to

his pride, and his disappointment may make of him an easy victim for

the first [TT 531] self-seeking claimant of Occult Power who passes

his way, unless he is filled with the holy spirit of self-sacrifice and

Christly humility, in which case he remains under the protection and

receives the assistance of his Master as before, until a recurring cycle

opens another opportunity for Trial.

A broken physical or mental law demands Karmic adjustment.

The Soul of man cannot be satisfied with its state of progress if the

correlation between his mind and physical body is continually being

hindered by the results of disobedience to natural laws.

A broken law of discipleship quickly brings its own retribution.

Although such retribution may follow as a result of some action taken

by the Master or Teacher before whom the Vow was taken, that action

was taken at the demand of the Soul of the Disciple. The Soul has

demanded the fulfillment of that Vow, and the Master, or teacher, who

is conscious of that demand endeavors to aid in its fulfillment.

I am sorry to say that letter after letter, direction upon direction,

has been and still is being given publicity, purporting to come from

me or from one of my brothers of the same degree of the Great White

Lodge. We have neither written letters, nor given directions, to those

who are responsible for circulating such letters or directions. Our bona

fade Agents . Representatives, are flouted or ignored by the latter.

The directions, which in fact have been given by us, if obeyed, would

have saved thousands of lives in the part five years and would have

furnished the fundamental planks of a round governmental system.

These directions have passed unnoted or have been secretly destroyed

by the agents of the black brotherhood, while we, because of our

reverence for Law and our obedience to the direction of the Maha

Chohans, to whom we are subject, must possess our souls in patience

until the coming of "The Great Day."

Received, Jan. 7, 1920.

.

ADDENDA to preceding lesson ; given by Master H.

The present cyclic wave of astralism is fart rolling up and

engulfing its victims by scores. Natural Law shows no favoritism and

these victims of self-deception, or astral intoxication, will come from

all grades of human life. The reaction . the return wave . will end in a

period of suppression corresponding to that which ushered in the

Inquisition and the Era of Witchcraft. The wave will sink to a depth

corresponding to the heights it reaches in a decade. Karma win then

and one more of the rounds of the present human race will then be

completed.

Received, Jan. 10, 1910. [TT 532]

...

THE WITNESS OF GOD

—

LESSON 216

Every true revelation of the great mysteries of Divinity declares

individual responsibility for the dissemination of the Light of the

World. The Master Jesus made this declaration in the words, "I am

sent to be a Light to lighten the world." In the sacred Stanzas of Dzyan

may be found a similar declaration : "I am sent to be a torch to light

the fires within your hearts." Whatever be the form in which the intent

is clothed, there is no misunderstanding the nature of the intent.

Infinitely more than the Light of the Solar Orb can mean to

physical man, does the Light of the Central Spiritual Sun mean to the

Soul of Man, and until man has awakened to some knowledge of its

reality, and of its ever-present and permeating influences, he cannot

rise to any comprehension of that Divine Being who is worshiped,

ignorantly or wisely, by all the races of the earth, under different

names.

It must be remembered that God has never left Himself without a

witness. In his worship of the Solar Orb, the most ignorant of savages,

as well as far more enlightened men, have worshiped the Light of the

World as it shone through that visible sun ; that Light which is, in fact,

the very Vesture of God.

Every Avatar that has come to earth, or that ever can come, is a

radiating Center of that Light.

As physical man depends on the light of the sun, or on some

secondary light which is dependent on the sun, for power to visualize

objective forms, so the spiritual man is dependent on the Light of the

Central Spiritual Sun for power to perceive and comprehend Divinity.

The Soul of man clone can perceive that light and it is because the

substance of the soul is of the nature of the Vesture of God that it is

possible for it ever truly to know God, or to refuse to know Him by

choosing evil. By so choosing it inhibits the action of the Light of

which it is a part. To the Soul is given the power of choice. It makes a

wrong choice when it chooses to act in opposition to the dictates of

the radiating center of light within itself.

Whether it be termed Conscience, Perception, or Intuition, that

which impels man to act in unison with the Divine Beings who guide

the evolution of the races of mankind is the Light of the Spiritual Sun.

The appreciation of beauty and perfection of form in the artist ;

the love of harmony and melody in the musician, are effects of the

action of the rays of light from the Central Spiritual Sun shining into

the sense centers of man. Those sense centers are, as it were, receiving

stations which catch those raya of light and translate them into

[TT 533] terms that are comprehensible to man. But there are also

stations which catch the shadows left by the passing of the light-the

effects of ignorant or selfish use of the light.

Every unselfish desire is a reflection of a similar desire in the

Mind of God. If the desire is strong enough and the will to carry it out

is fully aroused, man must succeed. If the unselfish aspect of a desire

is changed and becomes clouded by the personality, the plan in the

Mind of God is not carried out and a constrictive force is brought into

action which binds, closes up and contracts the lines of the form

which has been reflected by the Spiritual Light, and the form thus

created will not conform to the pattern form in the Mind of God.

When Intuition has opened the avenue of perception in the mind of

man, the Light of the Spiritual Sun will reflect an image of the truth

through that avenue to a brain center whenever a call is made upon it.

...

THE WORLD'S TRAVAIL

—

LESSON 217

The soul of the world is in sore travail, and not one human being

of its myriads of inhabitants will escape the effects of that travail. The

spiritual forces of love and hate are arrayed against each other, and the

battle is on for supremacy. Like unto a pack of hunger-maddened

wolves the masses are living up against those whom they believe to be

the classes. Ignorance of the primal causes of their distress, a sense of

injustice and of betrayal at the hands of those they have trusted, is

leading many of the frenzied poor even to bite the hand of those who

would feed them. They cannot now tell friend from foe, they have

been deceived so often.

On the other hand the ignorance of the wealthy on other fines in

many cases has led to their ignoring the signs of the coming of the

inevitable reaction of the forces they have been setting free. The

experiences of past ages have been forgotten, and they have blinded

their eyes too long to the signs and portents of the present era.

If I could but make my voice heard to the four corners of the

world I would cry out to every human soin, "Oh, son of man, pity the

brother who stands at thy side, for he is thy brother, even if he be the

one who would slay thee ; he knows not what he would do. He is

caught in the snare set by the demons of hate, even as thou [TT 5534]

hast been caught. He is but a tool in the hands of the opponents of

universal Love, even as thou hast been. If but he and thon could

imagine the agony of remorse which will sweep over both as the

scales fall from your eyes on the other side of the life stream, when

full recognition of brotherhood dawns upon the consciousness of each

one, then would you understand the uses to which both have been put

by the Brothers of the Shadow. What does it require but the sowing of

the seed of hate in the hearts of the people of a divided world, to turn

men from faith in and love for God into distrust of God and love of

evil ?"

There is an Angel in the heart of every human being. Ah !

children of mine, listen to the voice of that Angel as it bids you to

show compassion toward your brother man whatever be his offenses

against thee. Only by so doing wilt thou be able to meet his agonized

eyes when death hath brought you to a common level. His offenses

against thee will seem so small in comparison with thine against him,

as thou viewest them from the heights of life. And remember, the

brother thou hast sinned mort deeply against, will be the first to meet

thy quickened eyes when thy footsteps fall on the nether shore. The

days of retribution are falling fast. Make clean your own hearts and

there will be naught for you to fear.

...

THE WAVE OF PSYCHISM

—

LESSON 218

If you were able to perceive the deep sympathy felt by the

Masters of Wisdom, and their understanding of the power of the great

temptation facing you in common with other soul . hungry people as

the present wave of psychism approaches its height, you could better

appreciate their efforts to stem that wave and save you from the dire

effects of yielding to the thrall of investigation by mediumistic

methods whose devotees are utterly powerless to protect the

investigator from the effects of the action of the lover elementals and

astral shells of the human souls who have passed into Devachan,

leaving only the lover qualities to animate the shells left on the lover

astral plane. These elementary forms of life gather around the sphere

of investigators into psychic phenomena and feed on the magnetic

emanations drawn from them.

It is sad beyond power of expression to see men and women of

scientific culture and renown deceived by mediumistic methods even

when those methods are studied by conscientious investigators, yet

who are deceived by such dangerous tools as the Ouija board and

other like implements.

Communications so received are the result of sub-conscious

control of the mind and hands of the operator when no deceit is used.

The sub-conscious mind has access to the memory leaves of the soul,

the mental images or expressions of every object and form of life the

individual ego has contacted in all its incarnations in form. These

memories are fixed in the auric sphere of the individuality and may be

reproduced in any incarnation if the right conditions are made and

may supply the data for many wonderful psychic experiences.

In the case of a highly developed Mystic or Master there may be a

temporary identification of his sub-conscious mind with that of

another Mystic, and the memories fixed in the auric sphere of either

one may be flashed into the outer consciousness of the other, but the

power by means of which this phenomenon is produced is a high

spiritual power which could not be used for any selfish purpose

without disaster to the one so using it. Such a Mystic would be

incapable of degrading that power by using it to deceive some heart

hungry person into believing he or she had been placed in rapport with

a dear one who had crossed the border between two planes of

consciousness, or by countenancing the use of any interior power to

advance the financial, social or political interests of some inquirer

who might greatly misuse the knowledge so gained.

I entreat you to refuse to accept the ideas promulgated by some of

the self deceived adherents of the so-called "new thought" movements

relating to sex freedom and psychic development which are pernicious

in their effects. I refer particularly to those features which are in fact

opposed to the light principles of life and action inculcated by the

Masters of Wisdom throughout this manvantara, and upon which all

true civilizations have been founded.

Promiscuous sex relations and superstition have been the primary

causes of the destruction of many civilized races in the past, and will

be the cause of the destruction of the present one unless the race can

recognize its danger and correct the present tendency in these

directions before it is too late.

Spiritual development is dependent on purity of life and purpose.

Monogamy is the keystone of the family, and the family is the

keystone of civilization. The increase of insanity among the devotees

of the Ouija board and other objective forms for obtaining

communications from interior planes is deplorable, and the danger lies

in the opening of the manasic centers of the brain to malefic

influences active on the lover astral plane, and in the robbing of the

brain centers [TT 536] by the aforesaid lower elementals and astral

shells of the magnetic force they require for the functioning of

manasic energy. This robbery is often accomplished unconsciously by

the medium who depends on the magnetism of the inquirers engaged

in the attempt to secure communication for themselves from the

discarnate. The manasic centers of the brain are dependent on

magnetism for. life expression on the physical plane, and any

concentrated effort of will opposed to natural evolutionary law

weakens the resisting power of the physical substance which forma

the outer wall of each molecule of Chat substance, to the negative

forces which attack them unless that wall is protected by the

individual Higher Self, and it is not so protected when the center is

used by the lower self in defiance of the aforesaid evolutionary law.

The opening of the psychic senses, even when accomplished by

normal evolutionary process, is always attended by more or less

danger to the delicate brain centers involved, but the danger is far

greater when it is undertaken in an attempt to speed cap the process by

effort of will under the direction of another person, unless such

direction is given by a Master who possesses the requisite power of

protection ; otherwise the devotee is taking unimaginable risks of

breaking down one or more brain centers, thereby becoming mentally

unbalanced.

Knowing these facts, the person who dares to direct that process

in the case of another, while unable to protect that other, is piling cap

some dread karma for himself as well as for his victim.

...

THE CURSE OF THE WORLD

—

LESSON 219

Years pass by and are lost in decades ; decades pass into

centuries, and centuries into ages. Races anti nations are born and

pass, yet man, the result of all of natures efforts, with all the gathered

experience of the ages behind him, balks at the law which demands

that he shah live for his race, his nation, his world and not for himself

atone. Whenever he breaks that law he tells down its punishment

capon his own head and capon the heads of his children canto the third

generation and beyond. When he breaks the law of Love he breaks the

one law which underlies all other laws, for capon the inviolability of

that law rests the health, the sanity, the growth and development of his

race.

The law of Love and the law of monogamy at their base are one

and the same. The degradation of virginity, the contempt of that

[TT 537] law, in man or woman, is a crime against Divine Love from

which there is no appeal. The man . made law whose servants have

decreed the union of one man and one woman, though they may be in

ignorance of the fact, is based on that one divine law, and no man or

woman tan break it without increasing the results of the curse which

has fallen on the human race because of the age long violation of that

law. All the worst conditions of human life are the result of the

breaking of that one law. Argue as he will, examine himself as he will,

curse the law as he may, for man that law stands as irrevocable today

as the day it was made, the day of the separation of sex.

Each man, each woman is called capon to decide not whether he

or she is personally getting the best out of life, not whether wife or

husband is a saint or a sinner, but whether as units of the race to which

they belong they will advance that race by precept and example, or

whether they will add to the desolation, the crime, the devolution of

that race, as a result of revolution against that law of Love. Until the

human race as a whole recognizes this truth a perfect race cannot be

born.

...

CRYSTALLIZATION

—

LESSON 220

As the rays of a dying sun fall obliquely on each angle of all the

drops of moisture suspended in the atmosphere, each one of those

angles flashes out its own particular color, or rather flashes back the

ray of color its angle has broken from the one white ray. So when the

white ray of the spiritual sun fans athwart the angles of the crystallized

qualities and characteristics in the mental and psychic bodies of man,

it is broken cap by those angles and tan only reflect the different

colors of the broken ray . the effects of the thoughts, words and

actions of the man . into the auric sphere, the vehicle of the Higher

Self.

Crystallization holds the key to the manifestation of spirit in

matter, but the key could never be turned by a materialist, for such a

one could never perceive the connecting links which intuition atone

tan supply. Each color given out by each angle of a crystal, when a ray

of light is turned capon it from the right direction, would indicate to

the eyes of the occultist the exact state of matter, the first plane of its

manifestation, and the next step in the scale of life of the minute lives

sacrificed in the process of crystallization. [TT 538]

A good chemist, if examining a crystal formed of the escaping

fluid of a physical body, could tell at a glance which fluid formed that

crystal. He might even be able to determine from which one out of

several bodies the fluid was taken, and what the process of

crystallization was, from a material point of view. But of the different

planes or states of matter which gave birth to those minute lives, the

forms they were destined to create, their ulterior purpose, and many

other features, he could tell nothing. All these secrets the occultist

could import if so minded, and could do so by observing the action of

light on the different angles of the crystal, and applying his knowledge

of the elemental forces which combined and molded the minute lives

into different forms according to a divine plan.